Indian equities add gains; Nifty above 5,900 mark

Indian equities added gains to continue its firm trade in the late afternoon session on back of buying in front line counters and taking cues from European counterparts. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Metal and Oil & Gas sectors while selling was witnessed in IT, TECk and Power sectors. Aviation stocks like Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airline and SpiceJet were trading firm after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh denied any move to regulate airfares and added that the government intends to do is make the pricing mechanism more transparent. IT stocks Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies were trading under pressure on fears that Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp may issue lower revenue growth guidance for 2013 based on compensation targets for top executives. Hectic activity has been noticed in telecom companies stocks after global rating firm Fitch expressed its concerns on the outlook of the Indian telecommunication sector for the year 2013. In the scrip specific development, City Union Bank was trading in green on reports that the bank will raise Rs 258 crore via rights issue. Industry heavyweight RIL climbed higher after the company completed sale of its 25% stake in an oil block in Yemen to Indonesia’s Medco Energi for about $90 million.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. The euro group chairman Jean-Claude Juncker has called on Cyprus and its creditors to reach an agreement on the terms of the proposed bailout in a timely manner, while offering to discuss the matter with euro zone finance ministers as early as next week. Juncker also confirmed that Spain will receive euro 39.5 billion from the euro area bailout fund to recapitalize its banks by next week. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,900 and 19,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1673:1118 while 108 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,414.63, up by 66.51 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 19,463.25 and 19,375.58. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading higher by 0.61% and 0.82% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 2.20%, Metal up by 1.62%, Oil & Gas up by 0.96%, Bankex up by 0.76% and PSU up by 0.67% while IT down by 0.97%, TECk down by 0.76% and Power down by 0.31% were the only losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 3.97%, Hindalco Industries up by 3.34%, Tata Steel up by 2.31%, Tata Motors up by 2.29% and SBI up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Tata Power down 3.40%, Infosys down by 1.57%, Wipro down by 1.49%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.94% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.78% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, government has de-allocated 21 coal mines on the recommendations of an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for delaying production, while for another 19 blocks, bank guarantees were forfeited or deducted.

The de-allocated blocks were allotted to firms like Bhushan Steel, Rungta Mines, Bihar Sponge Iron, Maharashtra Seamless, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Lafarge India, Himachal EMTA Power and SKS Ispat and Power.

Earlier, total of 58 mines were issued show-cause notices by the IMG for their failure to develop blocks within stipulated timeline. In June 2012 the group assessed 31 coal blocks allotted to 51 different companies and found that 58 mines were to be violating production agreements and forwarded the list to the government for initiating action. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,905.40, up by 16.15 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 5,917.80 and 5,893.75. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sesa Goa up by 3.77%, PNB up by 3.56%, DLF up by 3.43%, Hindalco up by 3.33% and Tata Steel up by 2.36%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.13%, Infosys down by 1.91%, Wipro down by 1.56%, HCL Tech down by 1.29% and Kotak Bank down by 1.22% were the top losers on the Nifty.

All the Asian markets were trading in green, Shanghai Composite advanced 2.87%, Hang Seng surged 2.16%, Jakarta Composite added 0.18%, KLSE Composite rose 0.36%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.39%, Seoul Composite soared by 0.61%, Straits Times was up by 0.45% and Taiwan Weighted accumulated 0.63%.

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 added 0.58%, Germany’s DAX ascended 0.55% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 gained 0.51%.